Army Maj. linked to Senaor US$555.5M embezzlement case: Acento

Santo Domingo.- One of the six codefendants and associates of senator Felix Bautista, indicted for laundering, forgery and tax evasion, is now a Major in the Dominican Army, acento.com.do reports.

It said Gricel Aracelis Soler Pimentel is also an accountant, and was in the security detail assigned to Congress. “Although a military source reiterated this fact to Acento.com.do reporters, the officer doesn’t figure on the payroll of the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies, despite a search in the ‘Transparency’ section.

In the over 400-page case file against the ruling PLD party’s organization secretary, the Justice Ministry’s Anticorruption Dept. states: "Felix Bautista took and hid together with Soraida Abreu Antonia Martínez, José Elías Hernández García, Antonio Bolivar Ventura Rodríguez, Carlos Manuel Ozoria Martinez Gricel Aracelis Soler Pimentel and Apolinar Bienvenido Breton Medina, funds or assets originating from the serious offense of embezzlement committed against the Dominican State,” totaling RD$25.0 billion (US$555.5 million).

In the indictment the seven defendants are charged with corruption manifested in illicit enrichment, money laundering, signatures forgery, among other crimes.